When the weather vagaries line up in a manner where the big boats get slower down, the mid-sized boats run into them and the little boats still keep rolling and arrive close, then the well organised can win this type of race.

Primadonna had this sort of characteristic. Light weather hampered most of one of the biggest RMYC fleets that ever raced together in its first Offshore Race from Malta to Marzamemi, an old port few miles off Capo Passero.

This 58 nautical mile race, sponsored by Symfony, was a most stiff challenge to the 35 boat fleet which, apart from the normal racing boats, consisted also of the family cruisers section.

Favourites Strait Dealer had to return to the starting line after rushing out before the start signal. The light breeze was of little use for the lifeless spinnakers in Marsamxett harbour. Out in the open sea, the majjistral seemed to help matters after a while.

However, half way up the course Alp Challenge, Allegra, and catamaran Margerita, were the forerunners until Strait Dealer caught up and took the usual, normal lead. The tussle for the finish was a tough one with boats struggling to find wind.

Heavily handicapped Strait Dealer could not widen the required gap for them to clinch this one. By sailing close to the coast after bypassing Capo Passero and looking for every possible stretch of water, in almost total darkness, Primadonna managed to beat the stiff challenge of Maltese Falcon by just 62 seconds for a most merited win.

In the other groups, Tinda was a comfortable winner with Madeline Lorenz picking up top spot in the cruiser section.

Strait Dealer gets

the return race ….

The forecast return race to home indicated once again very light winds. However this changed into a moderate downwind course that enabled all boats to work their way to Malta in an almost straight spinnaker run.

No wonder that Strait Dealer had it all his way. This time Strait Dealer made no mistakes and clocked in grand style, just under seven hours (6h 44m 33s). The other big boats had also marked good time with nine of them clocking in within an hour from the second leading boat Allegra which covered the distance in 7h 24m.

However the corrected time gave the second and third positions to Elusive, just scraping through to beat Primavera by only 13 seconds.

Tinda once again proved a winner in the second group whilst Gee Wiz, full of young sailors got the cruiser class.